Patient Zero in the Overton Window shift was probably Goldwater, but Reagan is the airline flight attendant who spread it worldwide.

Digging waaaaaay back:

Robert Ingersoll was a Republican. From Art and Morality, 1888.

Quote:

Art cultivates and kindles the imagination, and quickens the conscience. It is by imagination that we put ourselves in the place of another. When the whigs of that faculty are folded, the master does not put himself in the place of the slave; the tyrant is not locked in the dungeon, chained with his victim. The inquisitor did not feel the flames that devoured the martyr. The imaginative man, giving to the beggar, gives to himself. Those who feel indignant at the perpetration of wrong, feel for the instant that they are the victims; and when they attack the aggressor they feel that they are defending themselves. Love and pity are the children of the imagination.

I mean, Reagan was pretty happy-go-lucky when it came to trading in dog whistles and occasionally overt racism, but it was mostly directed at black Americans. That's the cool trick Reagan Republicans use to get white workers to vote against their own economic interests - the idea that it's probably worth it if it might hurt a black person somewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisarea

It is absolutely horrifying what's happened to the Overton window, and just to my personal version of it.

Yep, this. The corollary has been pretty interesting in not insignificant ways for me.

In 2016, it was all ugh we should get married sometime I guess, for taxes probably, lol breederz. In 2017 I was kinda like hmm let's not get married and just create an administrative record that we are ghey because that list is the first thing they'll weaponize to round us up. Then in 2018 I realized that they will not even need a list after 2020, so

It's the retweet I find most interesting there. Kim Campbell was the last conservative Prime Minister before the wingnuttery began. She's been largely consistent, and that's just a hint on much that Overton window moved.

Compare to the current Conservative Party leader:

Conversion therapy is child abuse.

The Conservatives dumped a candidate in 2015, because he promoted the use of conversion therapy. At the time, they said it didn’t reflect the values of their party.

To the question in the title. I do! I remember when the republicans weren’t nazi supporting racists, back as a kid my step grandpa was really into the fiscal conservative bits and even moved to Nevada because of their lack of taxes. He was smart, a surgeon and worked at a secret nevada test site on the aliens. Clearly he knows things and is republican, and a big fan of this Newt Gingrich guy among others. He was pretty hard of hearing and would watch political TV with headphones or turned up really loud and since his hearing Aids were out, would shout at the screen and get excited over some panel of similar looking old dudes. If you, the hearing person had any questions at this time you kinda had to choose which ear to face forward and go deaf in as yelling loud was just his volume setting. Both him and my grandma would have these hilarious shouting at each other fights across rooms that were mostly because neither had their hearing aids in and both were too proud to go to the effort of putting them in and be the one that now can hear fine so they would just shout at top volume. Anyway, he was republican and not blatantly racist.
(Ok fine, not aliens but probably nuclear bombs, or related. He was a surgeon in california and a general doctor in nevada for a military facility that didn’t exist on any map, required him to learn about varieties of radiation poisoning and carry a radiation exposure badge.)

Then I got old enough to vote, registered as republican and the flyers started appearing during election season, the angry xenophobic flyers, and it wasn’t just flyers but in general there was a growing ‘now that you’ve joined, we can let you in on the secret’ sentiment that quickly pushed me away. That sentiment was of course the undercurrent racism, sexism and hypocrisy that we see out flopping around on display these days.

My Dad was a moderate Republican for many, many years. I would say that he was more libertarian in inclinations. Big on civil liberties, liked lower taxes and fiscal responsibility. I doubt he worried himself much about the dog whistles until he abandoned the GOP.

The Republicans really lost him when GWB came on board. He was a big fan of science, and disliked the anti-intellectual nature of Bush. He was a Christian - went to church most of his adult life, but really disliked the right-wing evangelicals.

Basically, when Republicans turned more authoritarian, he turned away. I don't think he voted for a national-level Republican after that, but he might have split his vote for local candidates.